Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright, THE ROLE OF SENSE OF HUMOR IN AN ADVANCED PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANIZATIONAL.

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Presentation on theme: "Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright, THE ROLE OF SENSE OF HUMOR IN AN ADVANCED PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANIZATIONAL."— Presentation transcript:

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright, salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es THE ROLE OF SENSE OF HUMOR IN AN ADVANCED PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es Introduction “Moral codes have always been part of the economic mechanism and they are part of the social resources of a community. The modern economy has given up this part of the economic system. There are good reasons to try to change this neglected topic and start reintroducing in the principal stream of economic science this crucial part of the economic activity. Eventually, there is still a lot to be done” (Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize for Economy, words delivered at the University of Valencia - year 1995)

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es My basic point is that virtues are fundamental in generating a sort of permanent individual happiness – eudaimonia - that allows the flourishing of individual passion that together with some enabling conditions represented by company culture, company values and leadership style, facilitates the creation of a sort of internal team harmony – represented by the expression “happy company” - that achieves better organizational outcomes. Virtues, happiness and enabling conditions are the keys to success Basic Question: What relationship exists between virtues, sense of humor and organizational outcomes ? !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es (PLEASE, KEEP THIS CONCEPT IN MIND. YOU CAN FORGET ALL THE PRESENTATION BUT, PLEASE, DO NOT FORGET IT!) The Model is the following Virtues, happiness and enabling conditions are the keys to success !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es Something from the recent literature (1)… According to Kjerful (2007), a business consultant who sponsors the idea to add to the organizational chart the Chief Happiness Officer, there are 10 reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster. This is due to the fact that “Happy people”: 1. Work better with others; 2. Are more creative; 3. Fix problems instead of complaining about them; 4. Have more energy; 5. Are more optimistic; 6. Are way more motivated; 7. Get sick less often; 8. Learn faster; 9. Worry less about making mistakes – and consequently make fewer mistakes; 10. Make better decisions. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es Teehan (2008): “Sense of humor, is a common element of human interaction and has been identified as a critical characteristic that is sought in employees, managers and leaders within organizations and is considered vital to organizational culture”; Fuqua and Newman (2006): “the highly publicized evidence of corporate scandals and fraud has illuminated the risks of operating a business without substantial emphasis on ethical matters”; Sosik (2005): “more recent empirical research demonstrates that values directly affect behavior encouraging individuals to act in accordance to their values”. Something from the recent literature (2) !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es Value: Quality, virtue or utility that permits that someone or something is appreciated; Virtue: Personal quality that is considered as good and correct. Good mood or behavior that is in accordance to the rules or moral codes; Principle: Maxima idea or personal norm that governs the thinking or the behavior. 1. A terminological debate: Values, Virtues and Principles.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es HAPPINESS AT WORK Customer: I have problems printing in red... Tech support: Do you have a color printer? Customer: Aaaah............thank you. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es 1) Romero and Cruthids (2006) humor represents a multifunctional management tool that can be used to achieve many objectives, including group cohesiveness, communication, stress reduction, creativity, enhanced leadership, and organizational culture. 2) Zamagni (2007), not only is it possible to combine happiness at work and productivity, but it is necessary to pay attention to this matter if the company wants to remain competitive in the long run. 3) Hackman and Wageman (1995), talking about TQM Philosophy, report the indication provided by Kaoru Ishikawa that “An organization whose members are not happy and cannot be happy does not deserve to exist”. HAPPINESS AT WORK !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es 4) Avolio et al. (1999), the use of humor in organizational contexts can be hypothesized to have both direct and indirect effects on individual and unit performance, and has been associated with improving morale among workers, creating a more positive organizational culture, enhancing group cohesiveness, stimulating individual and group creativity, and increasing motivation. 5) Wright and Cropanzano (2004) “the more positive the Psychological Well-Being of the employee, the stronger (more statistically robust) was the observed relation between job satisfaction and job performance” HAPPINESS AT WORK !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es 6) The empirical investigations conducted by Youssef and Luthans (2007) demonstrated that POB (Positive Organizational Behavior) can add 4% to 15% to the variance accounted for in work related outcomes, and noted that “positively oriented human traits, states, organizations, and behaviors may have a substantial positive impact on performance and other desired outcomes beyond what material resources, classic business models, and deficit-oriented approaches can offer”. 7) Quick and Quick (2004) noted, “Healthy, happy, productive work is neither a myth nor a fully achievable reality. We may think of it as an elusive goal for leaders and followers. It is a worthy target for which to aim, with the understanding that we cannot necessarily turn it into a metric and then check off that we have achieved it.” HAPPINESS AT WORK !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es B rady was founded in 1914 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It makes more than 50,000 industrial identification and specialty coated material products. The company has 9,000 employees around the world; it operates in 26 countries and distributes its products in more than 100 countries. For fiscal year 2007 the company presented the following financial results: Net Sales: $1.36 billion, Net Income: $109 million, Return on stock investment: $1,000 invested in Brady Stock in July 1984 grew to over $30,000 by July 31, 2007 with dividends reinvested. HAPPINESS AT WORK: Brady co. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es In 1994 Katherine M. Hudson became the first non- family member to run the company. The newly appointed President and CEO decided to start a program to include fun as an integral part of the culture at Brady Corporation, “not simply as an end in itself but for serious business reasons. We’ve found that getting people to loosen up and enjoy themselves has numerous benefits: - breaking down boundaries; - fostering an esprit de corps; - fostering the conversation that spars innovation; - relieving stress; - conveying important corporate messages. Seven years after the beginning of the program, the company has doubled its sales and almost tripled its net income. HAPPINESS AT WORK: Brady co.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es Southwest Airline (SWA) is widely recognized as having a strong organizational culture based on strong values that includes also a sense of humor and enthusiasm. What began 39 years ago as a small Texas airline is today one of the largest airlines in the US. Talking about profit, it is interesting to note that in 2005 the company announced its 32nd consecutive year of profitability, an industry record. HAPPINESS AT WORK: Southwest Airlines !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es PETERSON, C., SELIGMAN, M., (2004): Virtue ethics is the contemporary approach within philosophy to strengths of character, and we believe that virtues are much more interesting than laws, at least to psychologists, because virtues pertain to people and the lives they lead. Said another way, psychology needs to downplay prescriptions for the good life (moral laws) and instead emphasize the why and how of good character. HAPPINESS AT WORK: VALUES/VIRTUES IN ACTION... !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es HAPPINESS AT WORK: VALUES/VIRTUES IN ACTION... Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) are considered as the founders of Positive Psychology that consists of the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive, and is based on the cultivation of virtues and character strengths with the aim of developing a sense of happiness.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es HAPPINESS AT WORK: HUMOR AND RELIGION Regarding the relationship between religiousness and humor, it is interesting to note that a General Social Survey cited by Myers (2000) reveals higher levels of very happy people among those who feel “extremely close to God” rather than “somewhat close” or “not close” or “unbelieving”, indicating that happines can be correlated to a behavioral measure of religiosity. Capps (2008) notes that “Humor can be a wonderful resource for enabling us to get along better than we do, for helping us through difficult times in life, for helping us appreciate the life that God has given us”. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es HAPPINESS AT WORK: HUMOR AND RELIGION Scholars already found much inductive evidence of a relationship between the two elements, and suggested that “the intensity of praying influences the way one translates religious belief into dominant end and personal values” (Graafland et al., 2006). Fernando and Jackson (2006) found that “religion plays a significant role in influencing the judgement, emotional and motivational qualities of Sri Lankan leaders’ decision making – in that a frame of reference based on a connection with a transcendent and ultimate reality is likely to be a source of solace, guidance, and inspiration to leaders’ critical decision- making”.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and Sense of humor O Lord, give me a good digestion as well as something to digest. Give me health of body as well as the sense of humor to keep it healthy TRUST SENSE OF HUMOR Give me a holy soul, O Lord, which keeps its eyes on beauty and purity, so that it will not be afraid on seeing sin but find the way to solve problems. VISION COMPREHENSION PRUDENCE INITIATIVE HONESTY PEACE Give me a soul that knows nothing of boredom, groans, and sighs. Never let me be overly concerned for this inconstant thing that I call me. JUSTICE HUMILITY Lord, give me a sense of humor, so that I may take some happiness from this life, and share it with others. Amen SENSE OF HUMOR LOVE !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and Sense of humor O Lord, give me a good digestion as well as something to digest. Give me health of body as well as the sense of humor to keep it healthy TRUST SENSE OF HUMOR TRUST: Hampes (1999), analyzed the relationship between trust and humor. The positive relation that he found was explained in terms of such mediating variables as extroversion, stress reduction, and self-esteem. SENSE OF HUMOR: It is important to note at this point the difference between “having a sense of humor” and “to be in a good humor”. Sense of humor means exercising virtues and reaching a state of permanent “happiness” – the Greek Eudaimonia – that can be, and is, shared with others. On the other side, the expression “being in a good humor” refers to a temporary state of happiness that can be derived from a funny situation or a joke but it does not reflect the joy of our soul. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and Sense of humor Give me a holy soul, O Lord, which keeps its eyes on beauty and purity, so that it will not be afraid on seeing sin but find the way to solve problems. VISION COMPREHENSION PRUDENCE Positive vision consists in seeing reality as it is without distortions based on whims and wishes. People with positive vision always view work problems with an open mind and clean soul and always appreciate the good side of things. Comprehension means knowing that no-one is perfect, including us. This does not mean that we should justify bad habits, but to use our virtue to analyze our mistakes and the mistakes of others and take actions to mend them gently without humiliating people. Prudence is to do the right thing at the right time, in the right way, with patience and calm, avoid rushing and taking into account the past experiences and advice of people who know more than us.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and Sense of humor Give me a holy soul, O Lord, which keeps its eyes on beauty and purity, so that it will not be afraid on seeing sin but find the way to solve problems. INITIATIVE HONESTY PEACE Initiative should constantly stimulate one in order to anticipate events, and to always be proactive. It is the virtue that allows us to signal our presence at work. Workers should not be seen only as receivers of orders; they should be seen as thinking people with initiative and intelligence. Initiative multiplies effectiveness. Honesty is a human quality consisting of behaving with integrity, transparency, and sincerity. Honesty means recognizing facts as they are without distorting reality. Honest people do not lie, do not prepare snares, do not steal, and do not manipulate. Honesty is the engine of social relations and business. Peace is the predisposition to know oneself and one’s capacity to create and be part of a social network. Peace implies an interior and exterior cheerfulness, and is an emotional stability that allows one to face daily challenges with a positive soul and, especially, allows for solving problems instead of creating new ones.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and Sense of humor Give me a soul that knows nothing of boredom, groans, and sighs. Never let me be overly concerned for this inconstant thing that I call me. JUSTICE HUMILITY The word Justice stems from the Latin word iustus that derives from ius which means fair, right. Justice is the complete set of norms that regulate relations between people and institutions, authorizing, forbidding, and allowing specific behaviours. Justice does not mean sharing things with all mankind. It consists of defining what and who is right. Justice in the workplace generates healthy competition because everyone knows that he will receive what he is entitled to. Justice erases individualisms, egoisms, and lies because everyone knows that equality and impartiality will always prevail. Humility is the virtue of realism. It consists of being aware of limitations and insufficiencies and behaving in accordance with this knowledge. More precisely, humility consists of self- recognition. Saint Theresa of Avila affirmed that “humility represents the truth”, meaning that humble individuals always see things as they are, the good as good, and the bad as bad. The more humble, the better the vision of reality.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Prayer for Health, Wisdom, and Sense of humor Lord, give me a sense of humor, so that I may take some happiness from this life, and share it with others. Amen SENSE OF HUMOR LOVE The dimensions of sense of humor are: comprehension (again!), joy to be shared, inventiveness to see the positive side of the things, and hope for the future. Love. According to Plato, “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws”, in other words, where loves reigns, laws are unnecessary. In a workplace characterized by love, personalities and protagonists totally disappear, replaced by trust, passion, reciprocal respect and individual care. In a workplace where love reigns, all the members of the organization are capable of self-regulating the activities, and all the norms become superfluous. Love means being tolerant, benevolent, cooperative, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, kind, respectful and finally, having a certain level of empathy with others.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Model is the following Virtues, happiness and enabling conditions are the keys to success !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es THE INTERACION MODEL – individual level: happiness Happiness in this older sense was used to translate the Greek “Eudaimonia” that refers to an objectively desirable life. Eudaimonia, along with “Virtue” are two central concepts in ancient Greek ethics and the relationship between these two concepts was the basis for different moral theories, that generated many varieties of a “state of happiness”. The most important Greek philosphers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Epicteto, noted that happiness can be conceived only when exercizing virtues and indicated the fundamental virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and soberness.Eudaimoniaethics !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es THE INTERACION MODEL – individual level: passion The virtues and happiness are, then, expressed through passion in what the workers do. Passion is a source of intrinsic energy that allows making a strong link between what one does and what he or she believes in. Boyatzis, McKee and Goleman (2002) noted that “when asked, most businesspeople say that passion – to lead, to serve the customer, to support a cause or a product, is what drives them. When that passion fades, they begin to question the meaning of their work”. Milne (2007) noted “if people are passionate about what they do, they’ll be happier and more productive. Just as importantly, they’ll infect customers and co-workers with their positive attitude and stay longer with the company”. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es THE INTERACION MODEL – individual level: koinonia Passion - supported by some enabling conditions like the company culture, the corporate values, the leadership style and some tools for conflicts’ solutions - generates the koinonia (κοινωνία) – the communion, or work friendship. The Greek word koinonia, is a derivative of the Greek koinos – common. It is a word with a multitude of meanings that can be all connected to the English word “communion” with the addition of “intimate participation” and the presence of the “spirit of sharing”. The final result of the union with people with virtues, sense of humor and passion is, exactly, a communion to create an aligned relationship towards a common objective. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es culture and values THE INTERACION MODEL – organizational level: the enabling conditions - culture and values Regarding company culture and corporate values: Research conducted by Meglino, Ravlin, and Adkins (1999) showed that workers are more satisfied, committed and exhibit higher levels of performance when their values are congruent with the values of their supervisors. Klein (1988) notes that “the Stanford School argues that successful firms are fundamentally based upon a system of shared values; these values inspire employees to dedicate themselves to goals beyond profit”.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es leadership style THE INTERACION MODEL – organizational level: the enabling conditions – leadership style Regarding the leadership style, Reave (2005) notes that a “review of over 150 studies shows that there is a clear consistency between the values and practices emphasized in many different spiritual teachings, and the vales and practices of leaders who are able to motivate followers, create a positive ethical climate, inspire trust, promote positive work relationships, and achieve organizational goals (…) such as increased productivity, lowered rates of turnover, greater sustainability, and improved employee health. (…) Values that have long been considered spiritual ideals, such as integrity, honesty, and humility, have been demonstrated to have an effect on leadership style”.

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es conflict resolution THE INTERACION MODEL – organizational level: the enabling conditions - conflict resolution Regarding tools for conflict resolution, we would like to stress that, even among people with virtues, and between company who sustain virtues and virtuosos workers, conflicts will occur. However, the fact that conflicts will occur, does not mean the impossibility to work for building an “happy company”. Company should put in place tools for resolving conflicts, timely, with rationality and applying virtues, avoid major damages, growing both from a personal and professional point of view. Whatever tool the company will apply, we are almost confident that will be for sure easier to resolve conflicts when dealing with people who are honest, comprehensive, just, humble, etc…

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es internal armony THE INTERACION MODEL – organizational level: the internal armony The 1988 study conducted by Stenberg and Williams to enhance their understanding of how the individual characteristics of group members may affect group functioning, showed that some teams perform better than others because the characteristics of the group create a state of internal harmony, which results in the maximization of productivity. We hypothesize that the state of internal harmony is the result of the maturity of the workers who practices virtues and live with sense of humor, accompanied by the enabling conditions provided by the company. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es good humor company THE INTERACION MODEL – organizational level: the “good humor company”: DEFINITION friendly working environment, where everyone respects the others and takes care about them The final result is, than, the “good humor company”. It represents a friendly working environment, where everyone respects the others and takes care about them. In a working environment like this, everyone contributes to place the problems in a correct dimension and to assign them the right and timely solution. In this working environment, everyone shares the feeling to participate in the creation of the “common good”, and has the possibility to develop both as person and as good citizen. In short, a friendly working environment – based on virtues - helps to develop a better society. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es good humor company THE INTERACION MODEL – organizational level: the “good humor company” Gavin and Mason (2004) underlined the following: they tend to be healthier and happier. Healthy and happy employees tend to be more productive over the long run, generating better goods and more fulfilling services for their customers and the others with whom they interact and do business. These three things – health, happiness, and productivity – are the essential ingredients of a good society “Many organizations have ignored this fundamental lesson. When a workplace is designed to create meaning for its workers, they tend to be healthier and happier. Healthy and happy employees tend to be more productive over the long run, generating better goods and more fulfilling services for their customers and the others with whom they interact and do business. These three things – health, happiness, and productivity – are the essential ingredients of a good society. Improvement in productivity alone, which is almost the sole emphasis of many organizations, is not enough”. !

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es The Model…again… Virtues, happiness and enabling conditions are the keys to success

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es 1) Stress the importance of character and virtues in organizations; 2) Presentation of a list of virtues important to develop a sense of humor; 3) Introduction of the leading idea that happiness and passion is the result of living the virtues; 4) Presentation of a theoretical model of relationship between virtues, sense of humor, organizational outcomes and common good. Contributions of the investigation

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es 1) Difficulty to move among different fields of study (ethics, philosophy, psychology, religion, etc....); 2) Difficulty to define exactly the variables of the model; 3) Inexistence of empirical data to validate the leading idea; 4) Inexistence of a clear and unique terminology sometimes also with difficulty of comprehension; 5) Inexistence of specific hypothesis of investigation; Limitations of the investigation

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Salvatore Moccia, Valencia, August 2010, Copyright salvatore.moccia@uch.ceu.es 1) To analyze in depth the relations between virtues, sense of humor and organizational outcomes; 2) To validate the role of Sense of Humor and Passion based on research results; 3) To measure the intensity among the variables of the model. Possible Next Steps